The Warringah Rats will this week look to pull off a second win against the defending champions when they host Sydney University in the ABC TV match of the round (3pm).
The Rats’ 23-18 Round 4 victory stunned the Students and this Saturday, they will be looking to pull off a repeat of the 2005 Grand Final that saw the 10,000-strong Rat Park crowd erupt after their team secured its inaugural first grade title with a 29-23 win over the favoured opposition.
Currently sitting tenth on the ladder, a win against second-placed Uni would re-energize the Rats’ 2013 campaign says Warringah’s head coach Haig Sare, who was part of the famous 2005 win. “Uni are the powerhouses of club rugby, everyone knows that. Beating them in any round is huge and it (the Round 4 win) has played, and would again play, a massive role in the mind set of not only our first grade squad, but our whole club.”
Despite a slow start to the season, the Students have dominated the past eight rounds of the premiership competition, winning all eight straight to rise to second overall, seven points behind first-placed Eastwood and with a game in hand.
But with the HSBC Waratahs playing their final game of the Super Rugby season against the Reds, the Students will be without a number of their experienced players, leaving them open to a potential Rats’ raid.
Warringah’s fortunes have been very different and, after starting strongly with some big wins over Randwick and Uni, and close matches against Souths and Norths, they have now won just one of their last seven matches.
Although recent wins against the Students have been hard to come by, Sare believes the club’s past history of successes will help come gameday. “Historically, Warringah have had more wins than losses against Uni so we have the backing of tradition I guess,” adding that ascendency up front and home advantage would be key to a victory. “Our big focus is set piece and our scrum which, if we do right, will give our backs room to move.
“Playing at home is massive for us. The boys talk about its importance before each game and we like to make it tough for the opposition players and spectators alike.
In 2005, Warringah’s line up featured the likes of Wallabies and Waratahs’ hard man Wycliff Palu, who was dangerous off the back of the scrum. With an impressive next generation back row, the Rats will again look to dominate on turnover ball to turn the students around.
The second half of Round 13 matches will also feature Randwick against Easts at Woollahra and Souths away to Penrith at Nepean.
As always the 2013 competition will be broadcast live on ABC1 throughout NSW and the ACT on Saturdays from 3pm. Interstate viewers can watch a full replay of each week’s Shute Shield game at 3.30am on Tuesday mornings on ABC1 nationally and rugby fans everywhere can catch all the action online at anytime on ABC iView.
Alternatively, rugby fans across NSW can tune in to ABC Local Radio’s new rugby show, settling the score with Niav Owens between 2pm and 5pm every Saturday, for all of your country rugby and Shute Shield news. You can TEXT the program with score updates from whichever game you’re at on 0467 920 222 every Saturday afternoon. Make sure your team gets a mention each week and keep Niav up to date with the latest scores from your competition.
A full fixtures list, together with weekly previews and all the results can be found at www.nswrugby.com.au.
Rugby fans can also follow the Shute Shield on Facebook via www.facebook.com/shuteshield or www.facebook.com/abcshuteshield where you can catch game highlights and a preview of the upcoming ABC TV match, and on Twitter via @shuteshield or @abcshuteshield where you can send your thoughts through the week and receive live updates during selected games. You can also catch highlights of every round on the Shute Shield YouTube TV channel at www.YouTube.com/shuteshield
Words by Nathan Roye, images thanks to www.seiserphotography.com.
Shute Shield Round 13B – Saturday July 13
Warringah v Sydney University @ Pittwater Rugby Park (3pm, ABC TV game)
Warringah: 1 Richard Southan, 2 Rob Kelly, 3 Wayne Borsak, 4 Vincent Wright, 5 Ben Adams, 6 Sam Ward, 7 Mark Porpiglia, 8 Boyd Killingworth, 9 Joshua Holmes, 10 David Harvey, 11 Brad Dixon, 12 Hamish Angus, 13 Michael Adams, 14 Edward Doyle, 15 David Feltscheer (c)
Sydney University: 1 Alasdair King, 2 James Willan, 3 Sam Talakai, 4 Sam Jefferies, 5 Liam Winton, 6 Tom Boidin (c), 7 Stuart Goodman, 8 Hugo Dessens, 9 Jock Merriman, 10 Stephano Hunt, 11 Greg Jeloudev, 12 James Dargaville, 13 Jim Stewart, 14 Nathan Trist, 15 Stuart Dunbar
Referee: William Houston
Penrith v Southern Districts @ Nepean Rugby Park (3pm)
Penrith: 1 Heath Toon, 2 Kerren Straker (c), 3 Nigel Vaifale, 4 Willie Tooala, 5 Sione Pusiaki Fifita, 6 Vai Sosaiete, 7 Pita Tupou, 8 Leo Burgess, 9 Solomona Silipa, 10 Wilson Silipa, 11 Paula Katoa, 12 Henry Lilomaiava, 13 Paueli Halafihi, 14 John Maumau, 15 Lachlan Fox
Southern Districts: 1 Duncan Chubb, 2 Steve Fualau, 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Andrew Leota, 5 Luke Smart, 6 Lopeti Timani, 7 Jono Hayes (c), 8 Dan Faleafa, 9 Grayson Hart, 10 Rohan Saifoloi, 11 Alex Gibbon, 12 Rayhan Laulala, 13 Faleula Finau, 14 Ollie Ngungutau, 15 Paul Asquith
Referee: Michael Hogan
Eastern Suburbs v Randwick @ Woolahra Oval (3pm)
Eastern Suburbs: 1 Sione Kolo, 2 Alex Walker, 3 Rob McMickan, 4 Richard Stanford, 5 Phil Mathers, 6 Pauliasi Taumoepeau (c), 7 Ryan Hodson, 8 Andrew Shaw, 9 Luke Irwin, 10 Henry Hudson, 11 Damon Anderson, 12 Will; Fay, 13 Mark Murray, 14 Anton Lavin, 15 James Devlin
Randwick: Randwick: 1 Faitotoa Asa, 2 Nio Halangahu, 3 Tristan Goodbody, 4 Geoff Ingram, 5 William Munro, 6 Seilala Lam (c), 7 Tom Connor, 8 Nathan Paila, 9 Harrison Boileau, 10 David Horwitz, 11 Ethan Ford, 12 Pete Samu, 13 Terrence Hepetema, 14 Timothy Wright, 15 Rennie Lautolo.
Referee: Graham Cooper
